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From Kettering to London in 18 hours
12 May 2009A train company's website is advising rail users to undertake a whopping 18 hour journey from their East Midlands home town to London, it emerged today.
Customers buying tickets from the East Midlands Trains website to travel from Kettering, Northamptonshire, to London on Saturday May 23, are faced with an unbelievable itinerary.
East Midlands Trains today said the website had tried to find an alternative route as improvement works are taking place over the Bank Holiday weekend.
A spokeswoman said they were not suggesting customers took the trek to get to the capital and a more realistic two hour replacement service was being finalised by Network Rail.
But the company's website currently mistakenly recommends travellers wanting to get to the capital taking an 18 hour and six minute cross-country trip.
People leaving Kettering at 1.35pm on Saturday would have to travel to Derby then Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire, then take connecting buses to Crewe, then Stafford, then Rugby in Warwickshire, arriving at Milton Keynes at 11.20pm.
The bus to London Euston then would not leave until 4.53am, getting them into the capital at 7.41am after the mammoth trip.
But despite the website itinerary, a spokeswoman for East Midlands Trains said today they would never seriously recommend the route to passengers.
She said: "Major improvement work is being carried out by Network Rail between Kettering and Wellingborough which will affect East Midlands Trains services over the Spring bank holiday weekend.
"The timetable for services on Saturday 23, Sunday 24 and Monday May 25 is currently being finalised by Network Rail and we have been assured that it will be available by Friday May 15, at the latest, at which time it will also be made available through our website and the National Rail website.
"Once this timetable is available, it will give East Midlands Trains passengers the option of travelling between Kettering and London St Pancras via one replacement bus service and an easy transfer on to a train between Bedford and London, taking less than two hours in total.
"Whilst there is currently an option showing a significantly longer journey from Kettering to London (i.e. 18 hours), this is not something that we would ever recommend to passengers nor would we expect a passenger to use.
"In addition to the East Midlands Trains alternative route, there is also a readily available route via Leicester and Peterborough, arriving into Kings Cross in less than three hours.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the engineering works over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, but can reassure passengers that it will bring significant passenger benefits once complete."
Reader views (1)
'We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the engineering works' as bad as the MPs
- C Cusano, Bedford, 13/05/2009 08:27
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